America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
(Via Twitter from @Keeping_Secrets, aka Grant, St. Louis, MO)
@Keeping_Secrets: Hey Mike! I’m looking at new hiking boots. We pack heavy. Looking at Vasque Breeze 2.0. Thoughts? Recommendations?
Hi Michael,
I hope all is well with you. I talked to you a couple of months ago about winter packs and you were extremely helpful.
I need new boots for hiking/light backpacking, and I have a very high-arched foot and wear after-market insoles. My last pair of boots were Kaylands and they were incredible, but off course they stopped shipping to the USA.
I’m wondering which boot you think is better Zamberlan 230 SH Crosser Plus GTX RR or La Sportiva Hyper Mid GTX?
Lightweight Boots
Zamberlan 230 SH Crosser Plus GTX RR
$170, 2 lbs. (men’s US 9/Euro 43)
Sizes: US men’s 8-12, 13, 14, women’s 6-11
zamberlanusa.com
Having hiked and backpacked all over America and the world, I’m convinced few places test a pair of boots—especially lightweight boots—like New Hampshire’s White Mountains. So to put these new mid-cuts through the ringer, I wore them on a recent 25-mile, overnight hut trip from Crawford Notch to Franconia Notch in the Whites—including one of the most rugged sections of the Appalachian Trail. And the Crosser Plus impressed me as highly supportive and tough for its weight.
Boots
Keen Alamosa Mid
$120, 1 lb. 15 oz. (men’s size 9)
Sizes: men’s 7-12, 13, 14 15, women’s 5-11
keenfootwear.com
Here’s a question that’ll stir impassioned debate in certain circles: waterproof or non-waterproof boots when backpacking? Some adhere to the belief in a waterproof-breathable membrane on a multi-day trip when your feet could get wet; others say no membrane is infallible, and non-waterproof footwear will definitely dry out faster once wet. I put this philosophical debate to an unscientific test, wearing the Alamosa Mids on a four-day, 56-mile trip in Idaho’s Sawtooths in mid-September, a time of year when cold rain or feet getting wet just from dew on trailside vegetation isn’t unusual in the mountains.
Lightweight Boots
Scarpa Moraine Mid GTX
$129, 2 lb. 2 oz. (men’s Euro 42/US 9)
Sizes: men’s Euro 39-46.5, 47, 48, women’s 36-43
scarpa.com
I asked a lot of these boots—and they measured up well to every task I asked of them, from hiking with a light daypack in the Boise Foothills to backpacking with a 50-pound load (including more than 20 pounds of water) on a three-day, early-spring family trip in Capitol Reef National Park.